Teen comes back to life after being declared dead in ‘literal miracle’

A Texas teen has been hailed a "literal miracle" after coming back to life two hours after suffering from a cardiac arrest.

Sammy Berko, 16, was visiting a rock climbing wall with friends when his body became unresponsive after reaching the top.

His mother, Jennifer, told Fox 26 what happened during the terrifying day.

"He climbed to the top of the wall, rang the bell, as we were told, and then his body went limp, and it looked like he was either playing around or passed out. They weren’t quite sure and when they realised he was unresponsive, they lowered him slowly," she said.

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Sammy received CPR from paramedics for two hours in a desperate attempt to revive him. He was sadly pronounced dead.

As the parents said their last words to Sammy, he miraculously started moving.

"I started talking to him, just telling him how much I love him and sorry that we didn’t know how to save him. Suddenly, as I started praying, my husband said, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s moving,'" Jennifer said.

"These are professionals who have been doing this their entire lives, who have seen the worst of the worst. Each and every one of them afterwards came to us and said that they had never seen anything like this before. Ever. Never had they ever pronounced somebody, and suddenly they came back five minutes later."

Sammy also recovered with little brain injuries, only having suffered short-term memory loss for several weeks, leaving doctors baffled and calling him a miracle.

"I don’t remember anything about the day it happened," Sammy told the outlet.

"The last thing I remember is the night before we had to sign waivers online (for the rock climbing gym), and then I woke up … Then I remember my dad telling me, ‘This is what happened and you better remember this time, because he said it so many times,'"

The bizarre turn of events helped lift the lid on a rare condition Jennifer, Sammy and Frankie had unknowingly been living with.

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is a rare genetic disorder that affects the heart.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.